Sending a message within a television-content deliver environment

Abstract

Subscribers to a television-delivery service can send and receive messages within a television-viewing environment. A subscriber can create a message, attach content from the television environment, and send the message to a friend, all without leaving the television environment. A television producer controls its rights to the content by allowing subscribers to select and send some content while preventing other content from being incorporated in a message. Rights can be checked at the sender site, at the recipient site, and in between by a message-transport service. In some situations, the recipient may not have sufficient rights to view the entire message. Specifically, the recipient's subscription level may not allow access to some of the message content that was pulled from the sender's television-delivery service. In this case, the recipient may take corrective action or may view the message with the restricted content replaced with alternative content.

We claim: 
     
         1 . A method for a subscriber device to send a message, the subscriber device associated with a subscription to a television-content delivery service, the method comprising:
 creating, on the subscriber device, the message, the message comprising an element selected from the group consisting of: selected television content from the television-content delivery service and an identifier of selected television content from the television-content delivery service, wherein the creating is based, at least in part, on the associated subscription;   selecting, on the subscriber device, a delivery address; and   sending, by the subscriber device, the message to the selected delivery address.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the subscriber device is selected from the group consisting of: a server, a set-top box, a television, a personal computer, a mobile telephone, a companion device, and a gaming console. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1  wherein message is selected from the group consisting of: an advertisement, a reminder, a personal message, a public-service message, a social-networking update, and a service alert. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the television content is selected from the group consisting of: a still picture, a segment of video, a segment of audio, and text. 
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the television-content delivery service comprises an element selected from the group consisting of: a broadcast television channel, a cable television channel, a broadcast radio channel, a private radio channel, a satellite-provided channel, an Internet-provided channel, and a local programming-storage device. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the delivery address is associated with an element selected from the group consisting of: a subscriber to the television-content delivery service, a set-top box, a television, a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, a personal computer, an electronic picture frame, a tablet computer, a gaming console, a person, and a group of persons. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 1 :
 wherein the message further comprises an element selected from the group consisting of: additional content and an identifier of additional content; and   wherein the additional content is provided by an element selected from the group consisting of: a television provider, a person creating the message, and a third-party provider.   
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1  wherein the message further comprises a delivery criterion selected from the group consisting of: deliver the message during a specific time interval, deliver the message during a specific television program, deliver the message on a specific television channel, deliver the message only upon receiving an appropriate authentication, deliver the message to a specific device or to a specific set of devices, deliver the message within a specific context of a recipient of the message, and deliver the message following a specific action taken by a recipient of the message. 
     
     
         9 . A subscriber device associated with a subscription to a television-content delivery service, the subscriber device comprising:
 a transceiver configured for receiving television content from the television-content delivery service; and   a processor operatively connected to the transceiver and configured for:
 creating a message, the message comprising an element selected from the group consisting of: selected television content from the television-content delivery service and an identifier of selected television content from the television-content delivery service, wherein the creating is based, at least in part, on the associated subscription; 
 selecting a delivery address; and 
 sending, via the transceiver, the message to the selected delivery address. 
   
     
     
         10 . The subscriber device of  claim 9  wherein the subscriber device is selected from the group consisting of: a server, a set-top box, a television, a personal computer, a mobile telephone, a companion device, and a gaming console. 
     
     
         11 . A method for a subscriber device to deliver a message, the subscriber device associated with a subscription to a television-content delivery service, the method comprising:
 receiving, on the subscriber device, the message, the message comprising an element selected from the group consisting of: selected television content from the television-content delivery service and an identifier of selected television content from the television-content delivery service;   alerting a recipient associated with a delivery address associated with the message; and   delivering at least a portion of the message.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the subscriber device is selected from the group consisting of: a server, a set-top box, a television, a personal computer, a mobile telephone, a companion device, and a gaming console. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11  wherein message is selected from the group consisting of: an advertisement, a reminder, a personal message, a public-service message, a social-networking update, and a service alert. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the television content is selected from the group consisting of: a still picture, a segment of video, a segment of audio, and text. 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the television-content delivery service comprises an element selected from the group consisting of: a broadcast television channel, a cable television channel, a broadcast radio channel, a private radio channel, a satellite-provided channel, an Internet-provided channel, and a local programming-storage device. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 11  wherein the recipient associated with the delivery address is selected from the group consisting of: a subscriber to the television-content delivery service, a set-top box, a television, a mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant, a personal computer, an electronic picture frame, a tablet computer, a gaming console, a person, and a group of persons. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 11 :
 wherein the message further comprises a delivery criterion selected from the group consisting of: deliver the message during a specific time interval, deliver the message during a specific television program, deliver the message on a specific television channel, deliver the message only upon receiving an appropriate authentication, deliver the message to a specific device or to a specific set of devices, deliver the message within a specific context of a recipient of the message, and deliver the message following a specific action taken by a recipient of the message; and   wherein delivering at least a portion of the message comprises delivering in accordance with the delivery criterion.   
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 11  further comprising:
 receiving, from a user of the subscriber device, an action associated with the message, wherein the action is selected from the group consisting of: acknowledge the message, save the message, defer the message, delete the message, and forward the message. 
 
     
     
         19 . A subscriber device associated with a subscription to a television-content delivery service, the subscriber device comprising:
 a transceiver configured for receiving television content from the television-content delivery service; and   a processor operatively connected to the transceiver and configured for:
 receiving the message, the message comprising an element selected from the group consisting of: selected television content from the television-content delivery service and an identifier of selected television content from the television-content delivery service; 
 alerting a recipient associated with a delivery address associated with the message; and 
 delivering at least a portion of the message. 
   
     
     
         20 . The subscriber device of  claim 19  wherein the subscriber device is selected from the group consisting of: a server, a set-top box, a television, a personal computer, a mobile telephone, a companion device, and a gaming console. 
     
     
         21 . A method for transporting a message within a television-content delivery environment, the method comprising:
 receiving, on a message transporter, the message, the message comprising an element selected from the group consisting of: selected television content from the television-content delivery environment and an identifier of selected television content from the television-content delivery environment;   interpreting a delivery address associated with the message, the delivery address defined within the television-content delivery environment; and   sending the message to the delivery address.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21  further comprising:
 checking the message for digital-rights compliance. 
 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 22  further comprising:
 based, at least in part, on the checking for digital-rights compliance, associating a corrective action with the message, wherein the corrective action is selected from the group consisting of: propose that a recipient of the message subscribe to a television-content delivery service in order to view the message and replace at least some content in the message with alternative content. 
 
     
     
         24 . A message transporter for use within a television-content delivery environment, the message transporter comprising:
 a transceiver configured for receiving a message, the message comprising an element selected from the group consisting of: selected television content from the television-content delivery environment and an identifier of selected television content from the television-content delivery environment; and   a processor operatively connected to the transceiver and configured for:
 interpreting a delivery address associated with the message, the delivery address defined within the television-content delivery environment; and 
 sending the message to the delivery address.